So horrendous was Galliano's intoxicated behaviour last year - he was filmed in a bar directing racist abuse at some fellow drinkers, to whom he then declared: "I love Hitler" - that the management of Christian Dior has been taking its time to ensure it selects not just the most talented, but the most stable replacement possible.

Simons said yesterday: "The first time I heard about the Dior position I thought, 'this feels right'."

The timing, certainly, is perfect: in February Simons was let go as the chief designer at Jil Sander, despite the huge critical success garnered by his modernist take on mid-century, Grace Kelly glamour for that company's womens' line. As he presented his last show for Sander in Milan, Simons wept on the catwalk - but was then seen to be punching the air with joy at another fashion show two days later.

Dior's first choice for Galliano's old job was Marc Jacobs, but negotiations with the American designer apparently collapsed over money, and Jacobs' wish to import his entire creative team to the company.

Yesterday Simons implied that he plans to steer Dior away from the costumed riotousness of its Galliano-led aesthetic. Instead he will pay homage to the style of Christian Dior himself, who founded the fashion house 66 years ago.

Simons, who graduated as a furniture designer before moving into men's and eventually women's clothing, told the New York Times: "I haven't been in the archives yet but for me the strongest impact is in the first 10 years of Dior, and how to link that to the 21st Century."

Simons' appointment will be rightly hailed by the fashion world. Yet Dior has been proceeding perfectly well without a famous captain at its helm. Under Bill Gaytten, the little-known assistant to Galliano who took over after the scandal at La Perle, sales in-store at Dior are up 28 per cent and profits have doubled.